A gunman shot dead prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar outside a court in Amman on Sunday, September 25. Hattar was struck by three bullets before the unidentified assailant was arrested, Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Witnesses and police said Nahed Hattar, 56, was preparing to enter the courthouse for a hearing when the lone gunman shot him at close range.

The Latin Vicariate in Jordan issued on Sunday, September 25, a statement denouncing the crime.

Following is the text of the statement:

“The Latin Vicariate in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan denounces the heinous crime which led to the passing away of late Jordanian writer Nahed Hatter. At the time when the vicariate denounces this crime, it regards it as an unjustified violence that falls within the category of terrorism which strikes the region and several places in the world.

“The Latin Vicariate stresses that what has taken place has no religious implications; it is rather intellectual and has to do with differences in views which should have been countered by dialogue rather than by killing and bloodshed.

The Latin Vicariate statement, which is issued by the Latin Patriarchate Vicar for Jordan Archbishop Maroun Lahham, conveys heartfelt condolences to the Jordanian family that has been pained by this calamitous loss, to Nahed’s mother, to his brothers and sisters, to his wife and children, and to the Hatter and Naber tribes.

We earnestly appeal to the Almighty God to protect our dear Jordan from every foreign evil so as to have national unity enhanced in this noble country under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II.